The
Seismic Dildo
is a conventional dildo that is turned on (vibrating) only in case of an
earthquake somewhere in the world. The intensity of the vibrations of
the dildo aredetermined
by the magnitude
of the earthquake.The
duration of the vibrations isdetermined
by the distance between the user and the epicenter of the earthquake.

No earthquake, the dildo is turned off.

The
microcontroller box

How
it Works?The
Seismic Dildo
is a conventional dildo(1) that is
connected to a
microcontroller (in this case an ATMEGA168 programmed through the Arduino IDE).
The microcontroller is
continuously reading(2) a feed of the recent
earthquakes, obtained from
the USGS,
through a
program written with Processing(3).
Each time an earthquake occurs, the program sends information of
distance and magnitude to the microcontroller that in turns controls
the dildo.

The distance
between the user and the epicentre of the
earthquake is translated into the duration of the vibrations. The
magnitude of the earthquake is translated into the intensity of the
vibrations.

About
the Seismic Dildo

The
Seismic Dildo
creates a tangible link between possibly
dramatic events that are taking place somewhere in the
world, represented by earthquakes, and the user, at the same
instant she/he is
experiencing sexual pleasure. While tragic events are continuously
taking place somewhere in the world, the Seismic Dildo makes
the user physically and sexually aware of this.

Another
way to see the Seismic
Dildo, that is more politically correct, is to see it as a
way
to make love with Earth itself, the dildo acting as the sexual organ of
the Earth.

(1) Any dildo can be
plugged to the microcontroller box as long as its power supply is
compatible.(2)
The microcontroller box must always be connected (through USB) to the
computer running the program.(3)
The computer running the program must be connected to the Internet.

An earthquake occured in Alaska, the dildo is turned on for 30s at a very low level of vibrations.

The Sex Strike Dildo
is a conventional dildo that the user is able to use freely for one day
only if she/he has met a given daily requirement. This requirement is
that a given measure or rating of a given political
or societal fact does
not exceed a threshold set by the user. The threshold
represents the user's tolerance on the considered
political or societal fact.

How
it Works?(1)

The Sex Strike Dildo
is a conventional dildo(2) that is
connected to a
microcontroller (in this case an ATMEGA168 programmed through the Arduino IDE). Each day
the user wants to use the dildo, she/he must run a
program written with Processing(3).
The program computes(4) a daily measure or
rating(5), of a given political
or societal fact and
compares it to the threshold entered by the
user.

If the daily measure exceeds the threshold, the dildo is locked
and the user is unable to use it. If the daily measure is less than the
the threshold, the dildo is unlocked and the user can use it freely for
the day.

Your
tolerance limit is 2 daily dead Iraqi civilians due to the war in Iraq.
Today, 20 Iraqis civilians died. The dildo is locked until tomorrow.

You
tolerate 50 daily dead Iraqi civilians. Today, 20 Iraqis civilians
died. The dildo is unlocked, you can use it freely for the day.

About
the Sex Strike Dildo

The Sex Strike Dildo
is a way for the user to express his/her opinion relative to a given
political or societal fact by eventually doing a sex strike. By
setting the threshold, the user is expressing her/his tolerancelimit to
the considered fact before not
allowing her/himself sexual gratification.

A working
example of the Sex Strike Dildo has been completed with the measure being the daily
body count of Iraqi civilians (obtained from Iraq Body Count).
The user sets the amount of daily dead Iraqi civilians she/he tolerates
before not allowing her/himself sexual gratification (see pictures).

(1) The Sex Strike Dildo uses
the exactly same hardware than the Seismic
Dildo. Only the software differs.(2)
Any dildo can be
plugged to the microcontroller box as long as its power supply is
compatible.(3)
The microcontroller box needs to be connected (through USB) to the
computer only once a day, at the time the computer is running the
program.(4) The
computer running the program must be
connected to the Internet.(5)
Various measures
can be used. For example, one can think of a measure related to Global Warming.